Historic Hale’iwa has a new look
Read about Hale'iwa's new look in Allison Schaefers recent article in the Advertiser. Haleiwa's new look By Allison Schaefers Honolulu Star Advertiser POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 08, 2015 PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM Visitors relax near Whalers General Store and fruit stand The lines snaking out the door at Matsumoto Shave Ice on a recent February day were longer than normal for the season. While the popular Haleiwa stop serves 1,200 of the syrupy cones daily during the summer months, its tourist traffic is more variable during the winter season, when there is sometimes a lull in Oahu's visitor arrivals. But Stanley Matsumoto, son of Matsumoto Shave Ice founders Mamoru and Helen Matsumoto, said business has been booming since the soft opening of Kamehameha Schools' latest retail project, the 27,000-square-foot Haleiwa Store Lots. The plantation-inspired retail, dining and cultural gathering place is only 60 percent complete, but already it has become a must-see stop in the historic North Shore beach town where 2.5 million tourists come through annually. Matsumoto's is the anchor for the new $16 million project, which sits on 4 acres of the 26,000 acres of North Shore land owned by Kamehameha Schools. Matsumoto's turned 64 years old in February and moved to an expanded location within the Haleiwa Store Lots. Now it and 11 other specialty shops of the 20-something planned for the development are attracting lots of tourists who are hungry for a bit of North Shore culture, niche retail items and cuisine. Stanley Matsumoto said it's a far cry from the world his parents found themselves in when they added shave ice to their quiet country shop in the 1950s just to make ends meet. "I remember [...]